Related papers: Persistent Homology for Effective Non-Prehensile M…

We describe a mathematical formalism and numerical algorithms for identifying and tracking slowly mixing objects in nonautonomous dynamical systems. In the autonomous setting, such objects are variously known as almost-invariant sets,…

Topological data analysis, as a tool for extracting topological features and characterizing geometric shapes, has experienced significant development across diverse fields. Its key mathematical techniques include persistent homology and the…

We present a self-contained, soft robotic hand composed of soft pneumatic actuator modules that are equipped with strain and pressure sensing. We show how this data can be used to discern whether a grasp was successful. Co-locating sensing…

Mobile manipulators are envisioned to serve more complex roles in people's everyday lives. With recent breakthroughs in large language models, task planners have become better at translating human verbal instructions into a sequence of…

In this paper we present a novel framework for unsupervised topological clustering resulting in improved loop. In this paper we present a novel framework for unsupervised topological clustering resulting in improved loop detection and…

We introduce a planner designed to guide robot manipulators in stably placing objects within intricate scenes. Our proposed method reverses the traditional approach to object placement: our planner selects contact points first and then…

For robots to operate in general environments like households, they must be able to perform non-prehensile manipulation actions such as toppling and rolling to manipulate ungraspable objects. However, prior works on non-prehensile…

This paper introduces an unsupervised method to estimate the class separability of text datasets from a topological point of view. Using persistent homology, we demonstrate how tracking the evolution of embedding manifolds during training…

Object rearrangement is a widely-applicable and challenging task for robots. Geometric constraints must be carefully examined to avoid collisions and combinatorial issues arise as the number of objects increases. This work studies the…

We consider the problem of Active Search, where a maximum of relevant objects - ideally all relevant objects - should be retrieved with the minimum effort or minimum time. Typically, there are two main challenges to face when tackling this…

Nonprehensile manipulation, such as pushing and pulling, enables robots to move, align, or reposition objects that may be difficult to grasp due to their geometry, size, or relationship to the robot or the environment. Much of the existing…

Trajectory generation in confined environment is crucial for wide adoption of intelligent robot manipulators. In this paper, we propose a novel motion planning approach for redundant robot arms that uses a hybrid optimization framework to…

Soft robotics has emerged as the standard solution for grasping deformable objects, and has proven invaluable for mobile robotic exploration in extreme environments. However, despite this growth, there are no widely adopted computational…

We present a new method for the statistical process control of lattice structures using tools from Topological Data Analysis. Motivated by applications in additive manufacturing, such as aerospace components and biomedical implants, where…

Recognition of occluded objects in unseen indoor environments is a challenging problem for mobile robots. This work proposes a new slicing-based topological descriptor that captures the 3D shape of object point clouds to address this…

This thesis is concerned with deriving planning algorithms for robot manipulators. Manipulation has two effects, the robot has a physical effect on the object, and it also acquires information about the object. This thesis presents…

We consider the problem of retrieving a target object from a confined space by two robotic manipulators where overhand grasps are not allowed. If other movable obstacles occlude the target, more than one object should be relocated to clear…

Using persistent homology to guide optimization has emerged as a novel application of topological data analysis. Existing methods treat persistence calculation as a black box and backpropagate gradients only onto the simplices involved in…

This thesis presents novel algorithms to advance robotic object rearrangement, a critical task for autonomous systems in applications like warehouse automation and household assistance. Addressing challenges of high-dimensional planning,…

This work deals with a practical everyday problem: stable object placement on flat surfaces starting from unknown initial poses. Common object-placing approaches require either complete scene specifications or extrinsic sensor measurements,…